1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for assembling a core for a heat exchanger, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for assembling a heat exchanger core allowing a single assembly system to not only assemble a core for ordinary heat exchangers, for example, automobile radiators, but also automatically assemble a core for other heat exchangers of the type having fins and tubes in combination.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In assembling an automobile radiator core, a predetermined number of fins and tubes are alternately arranged on a bottom insert to form a predetermined number of layers. A top insert is then placed on the uppermost tube, and a pair of header plates are secured to the ends of the tubes.
According to the prior art, the above-mentioned operations for assembling the core have all been manually effected. That is, the emplacement of the bottom insert, the alternate stucking of the fins and tubes, the emplacement of the top insert on the uppermost tube, and the attachment of the header plates to the tubes have all been done by hand. These manual operations are troublesome, require highly skilled assemblers, and long assembly time. They also tend to result in products not having a uniform high quality.